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Release No: 653-08August 04, 2008

2008 Maintenance Award Winners Announced

The Department of Defense today announced the 2008 winners of the Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards at the depot and field levels. These awards are presented annually to recognize outstanding achievements in military equipment and weapon systems maintenance.

The Robert T. Mason Depot Maintenance Excellence Award recipient is the H-1 Aircraft Production Program at the Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center East, Cherry Point, N.C. The program provided exceptional and responsive aviation maintenance and logistics support to the operational forces and its many and varied warfighters/customers around the world

The depot-level award is named in recognition of Robert T. Mason, a former assistant deputy under secretary of defense for maintenance policy, programs, and resources. Mason served as the champion of organic depot maintenance for three decades, while helping to transform DoD organic depot-level operations.

There are six field-level awards presented in the categories of large, medium, and small units (two each). The recipients of this year’s Secretary of Defense Field-level Maintenance Awards are as follows: for the large category, the Army’s 3rd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Air Force’s 1st Special Operations Maintenance Group, Hurlburt Field, Fla. Winners in the medium category include the Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center Northwest, Whidbey Island, Wash. and the Air Force’s 31st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Aviano, Italy. Small category winners include the Army’s Bravo Company, 610th Brigade Support Battalion, Fort Riley, Kan. and the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 312, Beaufort, S.C.

The awards will be presented to the winners at the Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards banquet on Oct. 29, 2008, during the 2008 DoD Maintenance Symposium and Exhibition at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Denver, Colo. Additional information regarding the 2008 DoD Maintenance Symposium and Exhibition can be found at http://www.sae.org/dod .